Hundreds of mourners said farewell to legendary Wrexham manager John Neal today.

St Giles Church was packed as family, friends, fans and footballers old and new, gathered to pay their last respects to Mr Neal — regarded as the man who paved the way for the club’s golden years in the 1970s.

A quiet descended on the cathedral when his coffin was carried in shortly after 2pm, with a red rose bouquet on top with two of the carriers former Wrexham FC and Wales internationals Mickey Thomas and Joey Jones.

Also at yesterday’s funeral, conducted by Rev Phil Bettinson, were former Wrexham FC striker Dixie McNeil, current Dragon’s chief executive Don Bircham and members of the Wrexham team.

In a heartwarming speech, Mr Neal’s son David thanked everybody for attending.

“My father was a husband, father and great grandfather. He was a footballer and a manager, but at the end of the day, he was my dad,” he said.

Mr Neal described his dad as a quiet man who was “loving, hard working and a believer in people,” a great judge of character “who lived life to the fullest”.

Talking about his time at Wrexham FC, Mr Neal said his father had time to build a good side with a mixture of “youth and experience on the pitch, which gave him the opportunity to iron out mistakes”.

Quoting American cartoonist and writer Dr Seuss, famous for his children’s books, Mr Neal said: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because its happened.”

He added: “I will smile because of the impact he has made on our lives.”

Hymns sang during the ceremony at the church were Abide with Me and Make me a Channel of Your Peace. Later at Pentrebychan Crematorium The Lord’s My Shepherd was sang.

Described by the club as one of its “true legends”, Mr Neal helped achieve promotion to the old Third Division in 1970 after securing second spot in the old Fourth Division.

Mr Neal took the club to the second round of the Cup-Winners’ Cup in 1972 by beating FC Zurich, before holding Yugoslavian side Hajduk Split to 3-3 on aggregate, but losing out on the away goals rule.

The following season he took the Reds to the FA Cup quarter-finals, after beating Shrewsbury, Rotherham, Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace and Southampton before losing in the last eight to First Division Burnley at Turf Moor, with over 20,000 Wrexham fans present.

After winning the Welsh Cup again in 1975 he set out on another run in the Cup-Winners’ Cup, reaching the quarter-final stage. In the 1976/77 season, Wrexham beat First Division Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane in the League Cup.

Wrexham club greats, including Mickey Thomas and Joey Jones, have already paid tribute to Mr Neal.

Mickey said: “John meant a lot to me and to many other people.

“He built that club, got some great characters in, established the youth policy and laid the foundations for it to become a much greater club than it was.”

But it wasn’t just Wrexham that the 82-year-old had success with.

Mr Neal was appointed the Chelsea manager in 1981 after the Pensioners had been relegated to the Second Division.

Chelsea avoided a second successive relegation to the Third Division during 1982/83, but the following season lost only four league games and went on to win the Second Division championship.

That squad included former Racecourse favourites Joey Jones, Mickey Thomas and Eddie Niedzwiecki, all of whom had come through his youth policy at Wrexham.

He retired at the end of the 1984/85 season due to ill-health and underwent heart surgery in 1986, having also been appointed to the Chelsea Board of Directors.